Mercedes may have ended Friday at the top of the timesheets in Spielberg, but George Russell is far from convinced the Silver Arrows have the upper hand heading into the Austrian Grand Prix.
While team-mate Kimi Antonelli swept both practice sessions, Russell believes the real benchmark could still be wearing papaya after witnessing McLaren's impressive pace over both one lap and longer runs in the scorching conditions at the Red Bull Ring.
Russell finished only sixth in the second session after compromising his quickest lap with a mistake, but insisted that was the least of his worries.
"FP1 was a very strong session for us both," Russell said. "And then straight out of the blocks in FP2, McLaren looked flying, to be honest. Their race pace, their single lap pace looks pretty decent.
"I think the biggest concern for us is seeing the pace in McLaren and Ferrari there as well. FP1 was a bit of a breeze, but FP2 has been challenging."
Heat could play into McLaren's hands
Although McLaren has previously downplayed suggestions it still enjoys a tyre management advantage in high temperatures, Russell believes the evidence continues to point in the opposite direction.
Asked whether McLaren should now be considered Mercedes' biggest rival this weekend, Russell left little doubt.
"I think they are. I think there's a real trend of these hot races that they're strong. We saw it last year. We've seen it for years now,” he said.
"Miami was the first real hot race, and they arguably could have won. In Barcelona, Lando had a similar pace to ourselves and Lewis. And then here, they look really strong again, so there's a real trend at these hot races that they seem to step it up, and we maybe take a step backwards.
"It was a real surprise seeing that first lap of the McLarens in FP2 right at the top, and their race pace, especially on Lando's side, looked a bit better than us."
Despite Russell's concerns, Oscar Piastri was reluctant to accept McLaren had emerged as the team to beat after finishing second in FP2, just over two tenths behind Antonelli.
"I don't know if we're in the mix with Mercedes," the Australian said. "We seem to be kind of best of the rest after them. But I think Kimi and Mercedes always find a lot of pace from Friday to Saturday, so I'm expecting them to be very, very quick tomorrow."
Mercedes expect more rivals to join the fight
Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord also warned against reading too much into Friday's order, pointing to recent evidence that Ferrari often reveals its true pace later in the weekend while Red Bull remains firmly in contention.
"It’s interesting," said Lord of the competition. "Obviously after Friday in Barcelona, it looked like there was a bit of a gap back to Ferrari, yet they were right on the pace on Saturday, and very competitive on Sunday as well in the race.
"Our suspicion is that we haven’t yet seen everything that they’ve got to offer this weekend, and maybe they’re running in a new power unit quite conservatively today, and then we’ll see a bit more what they’ve got to bring tomorrow.
"Red Bull look in good shape as well with their big aero update, and as we’ve seen in the last few races, particularly the hot ones, McLaren are right there too. We’ve all got a fight on our hands, but that’s how it should be."
With Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull all showing flashes of speed on Friday, qualifying promises to be far less straightforward than the practice times alone might suggest.
Read also: Austrian Grand Prix Free Practice 2 - Results
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